9 (More!) Bestselling Domestic Thrillers to Read Right Now (Long Library Wait, Be Gone!)
Here are 9 more deliciously twisty bestselling domestic thrillers you can get your hands on quickly! Satisfy your mood for a thrilling read, without the weeks-long library wait. Want more choices? You’ll find 9 more easy-to-get titles here!
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Looking for even more gripping domestic thrillers without the long library wait? I’ve got you covered with nine more recent best sellers that still have all the chill-inducing appeal, but have been out just long enough to make your library waits much shorter! (Missed the first nine? Find them here!)
These books, most published in the last two-to-three years, have already proven their ability to enthrall readers and earned their place on bestseller lists. Now, they’re waiting for you — and you can likely get them today!
1. The Villa by Rachel Hawkins
A summer in Italy, a dual timeline, a gothic suspense inspired partly by fleetwood mac and Frankenstein… intrigued yet? i read this after listening to Amy and Wendy of the prosecco & prose podcast disagree so vehemently about it. i almost dnf’d it twice, and my head was spinning at the end. as wendy says, hawkins writes great messy characters! if you like domestic thrillers with characters you love to hate, give this a try.
When Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, her lifelong friend Emily jumps at the chance. But… “houses remember.” The villa they’re staying at was rented for the summer back in 1974 by notorious rock star, Noel Gordon, up-and-coming musician Pierce Sheldon, Pierce’s girlfriend Mari, and her stepsister, Lara. By the end of the summer, Mari writes one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composes a platinum album — and Pierce is brutally murdered. As Emily digs into the villa’s history, she begins to think there might be more to the story of that fateful 1974 summer — and that there might be clues hidden in the now-iconic works that Mari and Lara left behind. The closer that Emily gets to the truth, the more it begins to look like the villa will claim another victim before the summer ends.
2. Everything I Never Told You by Celest Ng
more than a mystery, this story is a deep look at family — how we love and hide from each other, and the consequences of both. published in 2015, the story has lost none of its resonance or its heartbreak.
“Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos. A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, this gripping page-turner is also a sensitive family portrait, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.
3. The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth
I’ve read and loved many of Sally Hepworth’s novels, and as always she delivers multi-layered characters with her signature Sally Hepworth twist of an ending! If you like unreliable narrators, this domestic thriller gives you two!
“There’s only been one time that Rose couldn’t stop me from doing the wrong thing and that was a mistake that will haunt me for the rest of my life…” Fern Castle works in her local library. She has dinner with her twin sister Rose three nights a week. And she avoids crowds, bright lights, and loud noises as much as possible. Fern has a carefully structured life and disrupting her routine can be…dangerous. When Rose discovers that she cannot get pregnant, Fern sees her chance to pay her sister back for everything Rose has done for her. Fern can have a baby for Rose. She just needs to find a father. Simple. Fern’s mission will shake the foundations of the life she has carefully built for herself and stir up dark secrets from the past, in this quirky, rich, and shocking story of what families keep hidden.
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4. Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman
Once I started this audiobook, the earbuds did not leave my ears until I finished it! You will not want to put this down until the last page.
If you could make one simple choice that would change your life forever, would you? Erin is a documentary filmmaker on the brink of a professional breakthrough, Mark a handsome investment banker with big plans. Passionately in love, they embark on a dream honeymoon to the tropical island of Bora Bora, where they enjoy the sun, the sand, and each other. Then, while scuba diving in the crystal blue sea, they find something in the water. Suddenly the newlyweds must make a dangerous choice: to speak out or to protect their secret. After all, if no one else knows, who would be hurt? Their decision will trigger a devastating chain of events. . .
5. The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict
Did you know Agatha Christie’s most interesting mystery is her own? She disappeared for 11 days, and even more intriguing, her whereabouts during those days has never been discovered! This fictionalized “best guess” is a fascinating look at the woman behind the literary legend.
In December 1926, Agatha Christie goes missing. Investigators find her empty car on the edge of a deep pond, the only clues some tire tracks nearby and a fur coat left in the car — strange for a frigid night. Her World War I veteran husband and her daughter have no knowledge of her whereabouts, and England unleashes an unprecedented manhunt to find the up-and-coming mystery author. Eleven days later, she reappears, just as mysteriously as she disappeared, claiming amnesia and providing no explanations for her time away. The puzzle of those missing 11 days has persisted. What is real, and what is mystery? What role did her unfaithful husband play, and what was he not telling investigators?
6. The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
a love story. a mystery. a betrayal? Laura dave expertly hooked me from the beginning in this fast-paced domestic thriller.
Before Owen Michaels disappears, he smuggles a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers — Owen’s 16-year-old daughter, Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child, and who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother. As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss, as a US marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity — and why he really disappeared. Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they’re also building a new future — one neither of them could have anticipated.
7. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
This psychological thriller will make your head spin! A friend recommended it to me, and I could not put it down.
Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word, turning this domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him on a search for the truth that threatens to consume him….
8. The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks
Wait, who is the one breaking all the rules? in this twister, it’s everyone. “Non-reliable character” lovers, rejoice!
Wealthy Washington suburbanites Marissa and Matthew Bishop seem to have it all — until Marissa is unfaithful. Beneath their veneer of perfection is a relationship riven by work and a lack of intimacy. She wants to repair things for the sake of their 8-year-old son and because she loves her husband. Enter Avery Chambers. Avery is a therapist who lost her professional license. Still, it doesn’t stop her from counseling those in crisis, though they have to adhere to her unorthodox methods. And the Bishops are desperate. When they glide through Avery’s door and Marissa reveals her infidelity, all three are set on a collision course. The biggest secrets in the room are still hidden, and it’s no longer simply a marriage that’s in danger.
9. Something to Hide by Elizabeth George
more a crime novel, but set within a family so i’m putting it on the “domestic thriller list. this is the latest (2022) by prolific author Elizabeth george. It was also my first from her, and though completely out of order, I had no trouble following the storyline.
When a police detective is taken off life support after falling into a coma, only an autopsy reveals the murderous act that precipitated her death. She’d been working on a special task force within North London’s Nigerian community, and Acting Detective Superintendent Thomas Lynley is assigned to the case, which has far-reaching cultural associations that have nothing to do with life as he knows it. In his pursuit of a killer determined to remain hidden, he’s assisted by Detective Sergeants Barbara Havers and Winston Nkata. They must sort through the lies and the secret lives of people whose superficial cooperation masks the damage they do to one another.
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Now That You’ve Chosen Your Next Domestic Thriller…
And there you have it: 9 more bestselling domestic thrillers that you can probably snag from your local library today! Want more bookish goodness? Get loads of book recommendations, fun book club ideas, literary lifestyle tips, plus your access to The Book Lover’s Free Resource Library!
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